Festiva Motor Rebuild or Swap??

[AJboy775]

So heres the deal, Lil Reds motor has more oil leaks than a sprinkler. I was planning on a rebuild, but now thinking about a motor swap but having trouble finding a descent motor....found one on eBay but the guys price is waaaaay to high, found 2 others on Craigslist, but having doubts......any advice?

[Movin]

You always have less doubts about what you do yourself.

[Safety Guy]

Swap to a better B3 or are you talking B6 or B8, etc?

How soon do you need the car back on the road?

Do you want engine rebuilding experience?

I would use this as an opportunity to put in a B6, which would be okay to run on the B3 ECU for awhile if you can't find a B6 one. You could also use stock Festiva brakes and suspension although the extra power will make you want the Aspire upgrade. If your stock brakes are really good now you should be okay, but if they're crappy, you need to redo them so they're as good as you can get.

Put in a good B6 and you can then rebuild the B3 if you wish to get experience at that. I plan to rebuild a B3 for fuel economy (Aspire head with roller rockers and some mild head work).

So look for Festivas and Aspires for good B3s, and look for Mazda 323s and early Tracers for B6s. Also look for very early Kia Sephias for SOHC B6s! I am told they can be used.

If you find a Protege DX from 1991 to 1994 you could do a B8 swap, but I'd highly recommend you do an Aspire brake swap ASAP with that one.

Karl

[AJboy775]

Thanks for the input guys......I really want to the keep the car the way it is but then again it would be nice to pep her up. I kind of have an idea of where the oil leak is coming from but if I can get a motor for 199 (craigslist) that runs good i might just swap out, rebuild the old motor (im guessing thats the B3 Karl) and save as a back up. To be honest im not to knowledgeable about motors, my friend who owns a mechanic shop is giving me a hand. Hes also working on his 1984 Ford Tempo GL Diesel that we picked up in Arkansas.

[AJboy775]

Good news, found a 1.3 from a 92 with 142k in Detroit for 199...gonna go pick it up sometime this week or next. They also have a 1.3l from a 90 for 299 if anyones interested...has 149k